Secular Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason suggested telling stories to young children (without a book).  In fact, she said we should "do away" with books for young children under the age of 6. Her rule of reading a book once in order to develop the habit of attention did not apply to children under 6.  See this article for Charlotte's thoughts on this and the blog author's modern interpretation.  It's a good one.

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/carrotqueen/630323/

When my eldest boy was 3, I had to find and read classic children's stories in order to retell them as I had forgotten many details.  Yes, even The Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood had mostly escaped my memory, I'll admit it.  After some practice, I started to make up stories too.  My son loved to make suggestions to change the story or would remind me when I left out an important part of the story.  

One of his favorites was about a naughty monster who did naughty things and how his friend (my son) and his Mom (me) handled it.  He really seemed to learn more social skills from this story than anything else I tried.  The "light bulb" went on as to why we don't hit our friends or knock down their blocks.  He developed empathy before my very eyes.  I should say "ears" since these stories were told in the dark before bed.   His comments about the story amazed me.

Also, it's important to note that he wasn't interested in books at 3 to 4 years old (at all).  He was 5 years old before books were interesting to him.  At 6 yo, he will sit still and listen to chapter books.  First he developed a love for a good story as we cuddled in the dark before bed, then he developed a love of books.

If your young child isn't showing interest in books yet, do not worry.  Try some good old fashioned story telling.

I should say that my youngest boy who is 3.5 yo now LOVES books.  Recently, I started telling him stories too.  At this point, ditching the books in order to tell stories as Charlotte suggested feels like I would be taking away his friends.   Younger children naturally follow along with older children.  I have read enough Charlotte Mason to believe that she would encourage parents to read to a child who requests a book.  Just as she felt that the alphabet and numbers could be taught to a child who asks.  The key is in the asking.

Finding this now has inspired me to do more story telling with my youngest boy and hopefully he will enjoy it as much as his brother.  We shall see.